Phamaly Theater is a disability affirmative theater company in Denver, Colorado that exclusively casts actors with disabilities of all kinds. Phamaly is an artistic home for artists with disabilities as well as a leader in the field of accessible and inclusive practices in the arts.
Educational touring productions have been an important part of Phamaly’s programming for more than a decade. In its 30-year history Phamaly has primarily re-envisioned shows that may include disability as part of the human experience, but are not necessarily about disability. The original play Morph Masters, however, is about disability as a creative asset in people’s lives. The inspiration for Morph Masters came during a talk-back for Phamaly’s touring production of James and the Giant Peach.
A Phamaly artist asked the students, “What does disability mean to you?” One student raised his hand and responded: “Disability means you can’t do things.” Regan Linton, Phamaly Theater’s Artistic Director, knew Phamaly needed to create something to push back against that idea. “That’s not the narrative we want to be sharing,” Linton said. “Why are we not doing something that addresses that?”
Morph Masters was conceived by Linton and Charlie Oates, and then developed into a script by Oates and an ensemble of Phamaly actors. The play intertwines the stories of the Phamaly actors with the narratives of five famous artists with disabilities: Frida Kahlo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, Steven Wiltshire, and Sarah Bernhardt. The production toured to schools and other venues throughout 2019.
Giving focus to a narrative about the experience of disability is a shift for Phamaly Theater. Phamaly Theater has traditionally re-envisioned scripts that do not have a disability focus by casting actors with disabilities. Morph Masters, in contrast, includes narratives that feature the disability experience and foster disability pride.
For Linton, the audience response to Morph Masters was extraordinary. Over and over, young people with disabilities who saw the show felt that their experiences were recognized in the production. “[They] felt like they had been seen,” Linton said. “Or they felt significant, having seen the show.”
Phamaly touring productions may retool the narrative around disability for students who may not have much experience with theater. Morph Masters doesn’t disregard the struggle that can accompany disability. Instead, it maintains an affirmative perspective on disability. For example, Beethoven did not see his deafness as an asset, even though he created some of his most extraordinary work after he became mostly deaf. In Morph Masters, Beethoven’s story becomes an invitation to shift perspective on disability from something that impedes the artistic process to something that heightens it.
The sense of disability identity as something that heightens the artistic process is present in other Phamaly productions as well. For Linton, the vulnerability that comes with performing as an actor with a disability strips the art form down in a way that allows the actor to come to the process more authentically. And, says Linton, that authenticity translates to the audience. “In Phamaly we allow a little more flexibility with the actor bringing authentic pieces of themselves into the character,” Linton said. “We allow some of those authentic human characteristics that are in our actors. We allow them to fill up the story that we’re telling.”
There’s a long way left to go to achieve inclusion for artists with disabilities in the theater. “Overall in theater and the arts there’s a great push toward diversity and inclusion but often the disability community has not been part of that,” Linton said. Many theaters have made extensive efforts to include people with disabilities in their audiences, but Linton said theaters need to achieve greater inclusion of people with disabilities in artistic roles. Linton points out, too, that many efforts to include people with disabilities in the arts are part of specialized productions or programs exclusively for people with disabilities. She argues that inclusion means that artists with disabilities must also be included in all performing, technical and design spaces. “Inclusion for artists with disabilities is possible,” Linton said. “We’re there, and we’re excited to be doing the work.”
Educators often ask Linton how to make arts spaces more inclusive of students with disabilities. She stresses that teachers don’t need something new or innovative to create inclusive artistic spaces for students with disabilities. Instead, Linton said, simply think of them as students and as human beings. “Kids who have disabilities … have just as much capacity to be artists or do something creative,” Linton said. “So just do it.”
Linton encourages educators and artists to be open to the possibilities when considering actors and artists with disabilities. Rather than rigidly adhering to preconceived notions of artistry, Linton encourages flexibility and adaptability. “Artistic quality and accommodations are not exclusive,” Linton said. “You can do both.”